Postcards From Purgatory
by Firebowls
Summary: Short odds and ends, in which my three clueless hunters - Adelaide, Blake, and Linus - gallivant through Yharnam.
1. You are the blood in me

AN: I never really decided on the order of events here, so while not everything is consistent, I still sorta like these. They're posted in no particular order (or, uh, storyline).

In this chapter, Addy meets an Amygdala!

* * *

Addy knew she was bleeding, and she didn't exactly care to check how badly. But, god, was it really dripping that _much_? The heavy _plink_ of blood hitting pavement echoed every laboured footstep.

She used to go to the cathedral when she needed a break. Sure, one guy there was convinced she was a liar, but Arianna had always been sweet. Plus, the old woman had been warming up to her, although she no longer called Adelaide by name. Addy had been worried that she was going mad. Now, she was worried that the poor old woman was dead. She was, after all, gone.

Addy checked the door nearest her chair first, not sure where else to start. She'd taken care of the masked fuck outside easily enough, but he backed her into the worst corner all the same. There was a flash of blue light, and she instinctively turned on her heels. However, when she saw the hand reaching for her – actually _saw_ the hand, the fucking claw – her legs went numb and she stumbled. Just barely, it caught a claw in between her ribs, tearing the flesh away and making room for a red blossom on her chest. Addy stumbled away, only stopping when, at a safe distance, her eyes caught the rest of the beast. Its head was like a hive. It was clutched to the cathedral's spire, a multitude of arms splaying out across the bright building possessively. For a while, Addy couldn't help but stare, and somehow she knew it was staring back at her. Neither made a move, until Addy heard a pained yelp from across the far staircase. The old woman.

There was no time to stop. Addy put pressure on the wound with her free hand, pushing in until it went numb. It looked pretty small, but it felt _deep._

After killing that spider, everything had gone south, and Addy couldn't help but feel it was all her fault. Even if the woman was mad, Addy had to find her.

She stumbled up the cathedral steps with a few extra cuts. The area was silent. What would she do if the woman was already dead? Well, she'd feel awful. Hell, was that spider even bad? Addy prayed to anything to hear a footstep, a breath, something to suggest the little woman was still around – hell, she'd even pray to whatever that thing was that stuck her between the ribs, if it meant finding her alive. Then she heard it, the precise opposite of what she'd been expecting: a high-pitched, guttural laugh behind her.

Addy spun around, eyes searching the blank space behind her for something, anything but the wretched red moon that bounced in her eyes. Was that a _child_? What mother would bring her kid here? Yharnam was barely safe enough for trained hunters; she'd think one look at the blood-red moon would tell anyone that.

Nervously, Addy's eyes twitched down the stairs. She really _was_ dripping – countless patters of blood coated the steps, and blood was now running down from a small pool at her feet. In the moonlight, her blood looked almost black. _No. No, it_ is _black. It's black and it's…hard to focus on_. The mosaic tiles seemed to shift into it, almost as if falling through.

A small, choked sound erupted from Addy's throat, her focus shifting to her numb hand. Slowly, she wrenched her head down to see the wound. A sticky black pool was soaking through her abdomen, where her hand was not clutching but _inside_ of. It looked like a magic trick, the way her hand was buried up the wrist in her stomach. Staring, unmoving, Addy noted that the wound wasn't black, not really. It was more like the nothingness you see when you close your eyes. A hole.

She was spasming as she slipped her hand out. Her glove was slick with the dark matter, and as soon as it hit fresh air, the numbness collapsed into a stark chill.

 _How do I fix this? Will blood help?_

Addy tried to remember where she kept her vials as her eyes flitted across the thick tar. It seemed to be leaping out at her in dark seizures of light. Then, all at once, she saw it. Them. _Crawling_.

Little dots were weaving in and out of her flesh, crocheting it with a thickening plaque, and she can't see anymore. It's all black. Empty.

hello

I can see you

Can you see me too?

You can now, can't you?

" _Addy!_ Christ, I can't understand how you're even _conscious_."

Addy opened her eyes as a string of low curses fluttered from the man's lips. Her view was flushed bright yellow, eyes insatiable as they took in light with all the fervour of a drowning man's lungs.

When the din faded to candlelight, she saw his face above her, his brows knit together in concentration. His hands were pressed into her stomach. He reached for a roll of gauze.

His voice tremored as he spoke, laced with suspicion. "Adelaide?"

 _Don't get it on you_. "Yeah," she breathed.

He frowned. His eyes looked ready to tumble out of his head. "How are you feeling?"

 _Stop. Stop touching it._ "I'm good."

"What's my name?"

 _Chaos. The Void. You are the Cosmos, and I the wan earth. There is a hideous monolith between us, obscuring our view, watching us, recording our movements. You are the stygian flood at my ankles, my knees, and now my head. You are_

"Blake."

"Good," he said. His frowned loosened, just a bit. "I wasn't sure. I thought…"

 _God, the light in here is too fucking bright_. Addy squinted. "I'm fine."

"That doesn't hurt?"

She shrugged. "Not as much as my head. Back up, eh? Lemme see."

Addy peered down at her coat, stained a showy red, and sighed with relief.


	2. Judge, jury, and executioner

AN: Hey, remember when we thought Beast Pellets actually did something? Good times. Let's pretend they infect you with lycanthropy. Linus fucks up trying to save his sister.

* * *

As a figure materialized on the ground like dust gathering from the wind, the first thought in her head was about snakes. Or, more specifically, the question, "How many dang-ass snakes did they put here?"

 _That can't be natural. So many fucking snakes. What would you do with them? What could you want with them? Bullshit_. "Bull-fucking-shit," Addy muttered as she stood. She beat her fists against her overcoat. _And how am I always covered in dust when I die, or whatever you'd call this? Is it some part of me that just didn't make it or something? Jesus, am I gonna find out a chunk of my ass is missing later? Not that there's much to take, I mean. But holy shit._

She heard breathing.

Addy froze, with both hands stuck on her behind, making sure it was all still there. Was someone crying?

Of course, she'd have loved to ignore it and move on – finding these emptyheaded hunters was pretty common at this point, and even with no capacity for coherent speech, they hit like goddamn _trucks_ – oh, she'd love to walk on by. Sure. Except the short, ragged gasps were coming from her shortcut, and she didn't feel like going through Lynchtown over there another time. Not when those snakes were sitting at the end just to fuck her over again.

She could wait for Blake to come back for her. _What, like waiting for someone else to kill a spider? He's getting cocky enough as it is. No, thank you, friend: I've got this._

Slipping the Tonitrus from her back – _Tony and Addy, duo to the stars_ – she flicked it a few times, sparks jumping out into the surrounding grass. Addy crept to the doorway, stopping just outside to listen. Whimpering. Left wall. Calmly, she stepped inside, willing her eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Well, the thing was definitely sitting along the left wall. Slumping, really.

It was also definitely Linus.

"Hey," Addy breathed. Linus's head shot up, his eyes gleaming white. Addy silently reminded herself that this was the only time she'd ever approach glowing eyes in the dark. _Because you're never safe. Not really_. She said, "Are you okay?"

Linus laughed, sort of. He peered down at his hands, searching them for a response. "I don't know that yet."

She frowned. "Do you need help?"

He said nothing. His hands twitched.

Subtly, Addy rolled her shoulders, trying to shake off the creeping tenseness. She sauntered, or rather staggered, towards Linus and dropped to the ground beside him. When his only reaction was rubbing his hands together, Addy dug something out from her pockets. "Papelate?" she offered.

At that he looked up, hungry. Upon seeing his eyes up close, the stone of dread in Addy's guts became a boulder. Those grey eyes should be lit up. They should be chuckling at all the wrong times, helping Addy laugh at their mistakes instead of cursing herself. But these eyes were tired, and edged by a heavy darkness. They were holes in his face, really; it was just a trick of the light that made them look like eyes.

As Addy swallowed her thoughts, Linus's mouth gaped. "Where'd you find those?"

"Alfred. Y'know, 'the pretty boy.'"

He scoffed, a smile ghosting across his dark expression. His head dropped, and Addy pressed the small cigarette into his hands, turning to keep from looking at him.

In a moment, a healthy puff of fire erupted from the flamesprayer Linus took to carrying, lighting the cigarette. He sucked on it greedily before exhaling smog. He rattled the little can of flames. "See?" he said, voice cracking with exhaustion. "Told you this would come in handy, didn't I?"

Addy pressed her hands together, rubbing her thumbs raw. "What happened?"

Linus took another long, heavy puff. He said, "I found Amy."

She gawked at him. "Shit. _Shit_. Is she…?" That boulder apparently found its way into her throat, her voice coming out jagged and thin. "Fuck," Addy rasped, "I'm so sorry."

Linus shrugged. "I didn't expect to find her alive. Not really. Yharnam isn't exactly at its best right now."

"Still," Addy muttered, not entirely sure how to continue.

"Yeah, well." Linus leaned back against the wall and draped an empty hand over his eyes. "I think I made a mistake."

Addy tried to make herself look away, but it was so hard in the dark. _Why couldn't this place have more stuff to look at?_ "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well," he said, "I _did_ find her alive. She was in our old home. But those wolves – the ones on the bridge – a couple of them got in. And she was pretty badly hurt, and soon I was too. I don't give a shit if I die. But Amy…she can't die. I didn't know what to do, so I, uh– well, I took one of those pills, right?" He paused, not for dramatic effect, but to catch his breath. Addy did the same. Pills. A beast pellet.

"Anyway, it helped," Linus said. "I felt better than I had in days, and I think I tore the one wolf apart with my hands, but– I wasn't fast enough, and…yeah."

Addy stared into his glassy eyes. They stared at the ground. "Are you okay?" she asked again.

His mouth twitched. "I don't think I'm gonna turn into some fucking monster, if that's what you're asking."

"That's part of it."

"I feel–" he hesitated, frowning. "I _feel_ okay. Better than before, but to be fair, I was freaking out about it until you came…so that might've contributed."

Addy nodded her head. He looked positively _haunted_. It was the same look those mad hunters wore. But she must have the same expression from time-to-time, too. _Like back in Old Yharnam, when you realized that dog-thing had ripped the skin off of its back somehow, probably trying to eat itself for sustenance. Couldn't sleep for days. Blake looked ready to smack me when I said it might've been kinder for it to eat us…_

"Hey," Linus said. Addy turned to him, surprised to have his gaze finally meet hers. "I know this is a lot to ask, but…well, is there any way we can _not_ tell Blake about this? I feel like he'd want to do an exorcism. Or just crucify me. And burn me. You know, the, uh, usual stuff."

"Yeah, no, I can see that," Addy said, trying to nod her head, but really jerking it up and down stiffly. "I won't say anything. Just– just tell me if you feel different, though. Okay?"

Linus glared at her briefly. Then his expression softened into a tired sigh. "Okay," he said. "Deal. If I start sprouting tentacles…Ad, buddy, you'll be the first to know."

Addy found a smile, a real one. "Good. Although I doubt it'll come to that."

"You've decided to come back, I see."

Addy and Linus both whipped their heads around to see Blake, his thick armour gleaming in the leaking moonlight. Linus grinned. "Got lonely, I guess."

Blake raised an eyebrow, humming. "I don't doubt it. I assumed you resort to talking to yourself without us."

Groaning, Linus pushed himself to his feet, saying, "Oh, I'm way ahead of you there." He stretched exaggeratingly before offering Addy a hand. "Princess."

"Cute." Addy nodded, ignoring the gesture as pushed herself back to her feet.

"So…where to?" Linus asked.

Blake smiled, his eyes flicking over to Addy.

She grimaced. "Hell."


	3. She don't give an inch to the band

AN: Addy meets Linus and Djura, who proceed to annoy the shit out of her.

In this version of events, Linus is a werewolf from the beginning.

* * *

She saw a shadow in the right of her vision, and spun to face the dark figure by one of the house's front doors, only a few feet away. Dark flecks of hair covered grey eyes. The man was leaning against the door with the smug ease only a sane person can capture.

"Oh," he said. "Hi."

Addy's skin prickled, somehow more edgy upon finding someone lucid. _Guess that's a pretty good indicator of my company as of late._ "What are you doing out?" she asked, scowling. "It's dangerous."

"Really? I didn't notice." He crossed his arms, a light smile on his face. His eyes wandered to the badge on her chest. "You a hunter?"

"Yes," Addy said, frowning, "and I have more important things to do than chat. If you'll excuse me." The man just nodded in assent as she walked off. _Maybe he's a lunatic after all._

* * *

Bullets whipped past her face, flooding her ears with the sound of sharp bells. Addy clung to the jagged statue. Her nails scraped against it and bled.

After a moment, the gunfire stopped. He was waiting.

Addy grit her teeth, and took a deep breath. " _Coward!_ " she shouted. " _Come out and face me like a man!_ "

 **You don't belong here, hunter.**

It sounded like he was right beside her. She shuddered. "God, that's invasive," she whispered.

 **Invasive? That's a mite hypocritical coming from you, isn't it?**

 _Oh good, I don't even have to yell. He can damn well hear me already_.

"Will you at least answer me one question?"

 **That depends.**

"On?"

 **On whether you'll leave after.**

"Well," Addy sighed, "I'm not one to overstay my welcome. You have my word."

Silence. Then,

 **I don't believe you.**

 _Oh, for fuck's sake-_

Addy squeezed her eyes shut. Was everyone so intent on wasting her time? "Maybe if you actually let me _come talk to you_ , you might be in a better position to judge my words."

Apparently she wasn't the only one getting tired from this; a low snarl reverberated through her ears. Addy opened her mouth to ask whether he had a right to be concerned that she was a hunter, but she stopped when she realized that the snarl _probably_ wasn't him.

Then her body was alight with sensations. She opened her eyes to see a brief image – a werewolf, tearing the skin from her shoulders, and reaching up, peeling back – before she found herself floating back into existence at the lamp.

Back to the beginning.

 _"Fuck!"_ she yelled, slamming a fist into the ground, her hair hanging over her face in a sheet. _"That fucking prick!"_

"Whoa, whoa, are you okay?"

Addy leapt to her feet, whirling towards the voice.

Dark hair, grey eyes. That goddamn lunatic. Again. "What the fuck are you doing here? You're gonna get yourself killed!"

To her outrage, he laughed. "Hey, gimme some credit, will ya? Besides, darlin', you're not looking too hot yourself."

"Oh, fuck off."

His eyes glittered like a child's. He furrowed his eyebrows. "So what are _you_ doing trying to get into Old Yharnam? There's nothing but beasts in there, and – I mean, I know you're a _courageous hunter_ and all, but it's a dead end."

Addy busied her hands with retying her hair so she wouldn't smack him. She took a deep breath. "If you must know, I'm looking for someone."

"… _Yeah_ … If they're down _there_ , they're probably dead."

"I appreciate the input."

He smiled at that. "A friend?"

"Partner."

"Oh!" he grinned. "Another hunter? Couldn't resist the sign on the door, eh?"

She frowned, partially because this kid was _really_ getting old fast, but mostly because he was probably right. If Blake came this way, he'd see that warning sign as an invitation to tear shit up. _But he would have cleared the place out, too. I need to ask that fucker with the gun._


	4. Make up something good

AN: Linus sees Addy, but she doesn't quite see him.

* * *

The creature let out a high-pitched whine, and Addy peered around the corner. It was dead. A werewolf was crushing it under its great paws, the snakes hanging from its mouth like noodles.

Swallowing back the bile in her throat, she crept towards the beast, knuckles white around the grip of her cane. She waited for it to lower its head and eat the defiled man.

But it didn't. Instead, it raised its snout, as if sniffing the air.

Addy leapt forward and, in an overhead swing, buried her cane to the hilt in between the beast's shoulder blades.

It screeched. Its arms flew out behind itself clumsily, the claws just catching Addy's cheek and drawing blood. Convulsing wildly, it lurched forward until it slid off of the cane. Blood matted in its fur. It turned, and eyes of pure white stared Addy down.

Addy poised her arm, ready for it to make a move. But it didn't. The growl died in the monster's throat as it watched her. She frowned. _It can't still be lucid, can it?_

As quickly as the thought came, it was shattered by the beast's brutish weight as it slammed into Addy. She didn't fly far before hitting the wall. Addy struggled to her feet, breathing heavily, ready to swing again – and it was gone. She saw a flash of fur and blood as it ran up the stairs, towards the open window. There was a distant thump, and then nothing.

Breathing heavily, Addy checked herself. No real wounds. Nothing seemed broken, either. That thing had just wanted to get away from her.

Addy stood and brushed herself off, but she felt so dizzy she had to lean against the wall. It was gone. She was safe. _But the way it looked at me was so…thoughtful. Can they keep their heads straight like that? Even after they turn?_ Addy had never seen it, but she hadn't been in this business for all that long. She'd have to ask Blake.

And then another thought struck her dumb. That was a look of recognition it'd given her. It _knew_ her.

It wasn't Blake. It couldn't be.

No, it really couldn't be; Blake would kill himself sooner than he'd see himself as a beast.

 _It saw the hunter's badge. That's it; it either knew I was trained to handle its type and didn't want to risk it, or it realized I wasn't a monster and has somehow kept a sense of its moral code. Either way, it's gone now, so stop worrying about it. There's no use in that._

So Addy trudged on, her gut squirming as if she'd been the one to bite into those snakes.


	5. In dreams

AN: Blake ran off on his own, and Addy's left wondering how things work in the hunter's dream.

* * *

If there was only one lesson to take away from her adventures in Yharnam thus far, it was that temperance was key in life; had she not contented herself with only a few hits in a row on the witch, Addy would still be stuck in Hemwick, and she'd really heard enough of the laughter there for a lifetime. It wasn't really a one-man fight, though. She'd run the gauntlet countless times before finally beating it, and her weapon was now in disrepair just as much as she was. She had to sharpen it – lest it be reduced to an _actual_ cane – and so she found herself back in the hunter's dream. But she couldn't stay long. Not when Blake was still M-I-A.

Once they'd bonded over their unusual abilities, namely _never_ actually _dying_ , they planned to meet back at the Cathedral Ward whenever they needed to regroup. Addy spent a day bumming out with the caretaker before being eaten alive by boredom, and then, by worry. Blake was nowhere to be found. That was new. So, as per usual when she was anxious, Addy found herself tearing through all manners of beast, bleeding and cursing along the way.

Maybe he was wrapped up in something big, and just hasn't had the chance to stop yet; they sometimes went for days without rest. Had he returned to his version of the dream?

Addy looked up. The doll was still standing listlessly, gazing at the moon as if waiting for it to crash into them. She really needed a hobby. But who was Addy to judge? She wasn't even sure how real this world _was_ , so maybe staring at the sky was just fine.

"Hey." The doll's eyes shifted to her, questioning. "Do you, uh, know a guy named Blake? Kinda short, blonde? Uh, doesn't talk much."

Slowly, the doll's eyes fell closed. "I know only you and your doings, hunter. After all, this is your world."

"What about Gehrman?"

Her eyes slid towards the garden. "He should not be here."

Uh. Okay? Was that distaste on the doll's face? Addy didn't know she had the capacity for it. For any emotions, really.

After a moment of pursed silence, the doll's eyes glazed over. "I do have dreams," she said, "from time to time. They do not tell me much. Just glimpses of other people, other hunters like yourself. But I do see them."

"So could Blake– could my friend be one of those people?"

"I am not sure. Does he know me?"

Addy frowned. "Yeah. He comes to the hunter's dream, but…a different one. I guess."

"Well," the doll said, bowing her head, "whatever the case, I serve only you, dear hunter. I only wish I could be of more help."

"Yeah," Addy muttered, her hands rubbing the cane's smooth surface. "I know."


	6. Oh god, what's that terrible smell?

AN: The One Reborn must smell like shit.

* * *

"Ad – _hey!_ Can we please not draw attention to ourselves?"

Addy trotted down the steps, sparing a second to call back. "Would you relax? Even if they notice us, these guys are _easy_."

Stepping off of the ladder, Linus sighed. A cold sweat pinched at his nerves. "That's not what I'm worried about," he muttered. "I don't think my poor head can take much more of this."

He met Addy in front of the now all too familiar gate, padded with a thick fog. Addy leaned into it, relishing the cushiony surface as she tried to peer through. She couldn't help but gawk at the tall mess of limbs before searching the rest of the area. "I don't– _oh, Jesus_." She jumped back, clapping a hand over her mouth. "I can smell it already. _Ugh_. Fuck."

"Don't worry about it." Linus patted her back as he waltzed over to take her place. "It's just your delicate lady nose. Can't take much, I understand. No need to fret, I've– _oh._ " Linus retracted from the wall, grunting.

Addy barked with laughter. "Dumbass. D'you believe me now?"

"Oh – _oh_ – god, yes. That is _terrible_."

"Guess you don't notice it as much when it's trying to kill you."

Taking a deep breath, Linus drew closer to the fog wall. "I see them. They're on both sides."

"How many?"

"Maybe…five? I don't know that they care about symmetry around here. It's hard to, ugh, hard to see."

Addy's eyebrows drew together in a terse expression. "So you're sure those women are what's keeping that… _thing_ alive?"

"Not at all." Linus stepped back from the gate. "But it's a good shot. I mean, those bells clearly bring things back to life, and since that 'thing' is just a fuck-ton of bodies, I'd think that's how it worked."

"Hm."

"Yeah."

Addy watched as Linus flicked at the catch on his cane, loosening and straightening it out. Back and forth. Back and forth.

"So," she said, "shall we?"


	7. Get out

AN: Pre-game. Blake decides to go to Yarnham.

* * *

Clasps and hollow thuds. A sigh.

Addy turned the corner to see exactly what she'd been expecting: Blake, one hand propped on an open suitcase, the other poised over its open belly. He was too still to tell whether he'd heard her. His eyes raked over the mess of provisions on his bed – clothes, weapons, keepsakes – and his fingers closed and opened, closed and opened in fists, like flowers stuck in cyclical time. She'd never seen anyone looking so lost in their own home.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

His head gave a brief jerk, but he did not look at her. His eyes stayed focused on his half-filled case. "I'm going."

Addy could have mouthed the words along with him, yet something cold struck her chest all the same. "Why? Just let Matthews handle it. He's sent enough hunters already."

"None of them have come back. I have to try."

" _You_ have to protect the town. They need you here."

He finally looked at her. "This is more important."

Addy felt a sick grimace pull at her lips. He was right – lord knows he was, but that didn't make it feel any less…wrong. She finally broke the eye contact to stare at the mauve sky, flickering out the window. The moon came out the other night and hadn't moved since. It was like a great white eye staring down at them, putting them in the spotlight for all manners of unnatural horrors.

 _Nothing's really right anymore, is it?_

Addy turned back to see his suitcase had been dumped back onto the bed. Hope sparked in her chest, just to be snuffed when Blake began feeding supplies into the pouches around his belt. He tossed his spare clothes aside.

"I'm going with you," Addy said.

"No, you're not."

"Why not? I can hold my own."

"You're staying here."

"No, I'm not."

Blake closed his eyes, pressing his fingers into them as if to block out the moonlight. He let out an inaudible groan. One eye flicked open, fixed on Addy, as he spoke. "They'll think we deserted them, you know."

Bile slid along her throat. "We _are_ deserting them."

This time, she held and returned his cold glare. Dryness pinched at her eyes painfully before he relented, his hands dropping into the mess on his bed, searching for something. "Get dressed," he said. "And eat something. Yharnam's pretty far."

She turned to go. "Wait."

Something light and pink hit her in the chest before rolling along the ground. Bread, wrapped in a faded floral print. Addy scooped it up before scurrying away, her eyes fixed on the wooden ground. Get dressed, eat, and go. She might have trouble with the second step, but she could do the rest. So long as she kept her thoughts down, forcing them from her head into her churning gut, she could do the rest.


	8. Encore!

AN: After revealing his beast form in Cainhurst to save Blake and Addy (and then running away like a girl who tripped onstage after her big prom speech), Linus finds out about the whole can't-die-no-matter-how-many-times-you-get-killed thing.

* * *

As Addy crept through the foliage, the hushed voice grew louder of its own accord. She scrunched her nose up, trying to catch a bit of understanding from the rambling. Then, at once, he fell quiet, and Addy's breath caught in her throat. Steadily, she crept onwards, stepping up the corner and keeping out of sight, when–

"Oh, fuck me."

Addy stopped in her tracks. The stirring chemicals in her head clashed together and reacted in bright sparks. Linus. That fucking idiot.

She stomped towards him.

"Addy? Oh, shit, I–"

"What were you _thinking_?"

Linus backpedalled away from her, shielding his face and yelping as he fell at her feet.

Addy bit her lip and stepped back. He didn't move. She sighed and said, "Blake is looking for you. Do you know that? This is turning into a full-blown witch hunt because you didn't _bother_ to tell us about your– your _state_."

Head hanging low, Linus chuckled. "So if I'd told you earlier, your friend wouldn't be trying to kill me right now? Really?"

She folded her arms. "We could've hidden it."

"We?"

"We. I don't care who or what you are, but Blake _does._ You were reckless back there."

He scoffed as he raised himself to stand. "Being reckless is what saved your life. _Both_ of your lives."

Addy grit her teeth. "We were fine."

" _Really?_ " He slapped a hand over his eyes, biting his lips in a weak grin. "Because _I_ thought – and, please, do correct me if I'm wrong here – _I_ thought that thing was about to _kill_ you."

"So let it. We–"

" _Hah!"_ he barked, slapping is knee. "'Let it,' she says – what in the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Listen."

"You're mental."

" _Listen,_ we–"

"Fucking mental."

" _We can't die._ "

"Goddammit. What?"

Addy took a breath, finally having captured the dope's attention. His frown made her think of Blake. "We've died plenty of times since coming here, and we just come back."

"What does that even mean?"

"We're immortal? Hell if I know."

Addy waited, examining the lines in his unmoving face. Linus just stared at her blankly before muttering something that sounded like "fucking mental."

Rolling her eyes, Addy drew her pistol and pressed it against her skull. Linus jumped. "Want a demonstration?"

" _Are you crazy? Put that_ –"

A muffled shot.

The girl fell, limbs twisting like a doll's. Linus just watched her, unable to even blink. Something sharp pricked at his taste buds, bitter and metallic. Her blood, in his mouth and all over his face. He jerked–  
 _what the fuck what the fuck what the actual fucking FUCK  
_ –spitting out pink saliva into the underbrush and dry-heaving. His chest ached.

Once he'd stopped convulsing long enough to breath, he looked to Addy. A mess of dark cloth in the grass. "Holy shit." She'd seemed so…normal. What happened?

 _This place_ got _to her, that's what fucking happened. She went nuts just like everything else in this hellhole._

It's not like he hadn't seen it before – he saw one of his old friends try to eat a neighbour alive a few days in. He'd seen it before, but he'd never seen it happen so damn fast. Maybe she just hid it well?

Linus's chest ached and pulsated beneath him. He told himself it was from retching. Movement–

Was Addy…bubbling?

Bits of colour seemed to drip from her body, slipping into the wet ground. Her figure faded, and for a split second he saw her wide-eyed skull slipping into the earth. Then, she was gone.

 _Decomposed. She decomposed_.

The ground had eaten her alive.

 _So damn fast_.

He heard something like a sharp intake of breath slipping between teeth, sifting into his ears from behind. He turned.

Something flickered above the headlamp, warm light coming from the blue flame. There were arms, a dark fluttering, a face–

Then Addy was standing there, _really_ there, one hand pressed against her beating chest.

Her eyes met Linus's wide ones, and she grinned, jaws sharper than ever. "What's wrong?" she asked between short breaths. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

Linus couldn't find a response. He found himself blubbering "how" over and over again, as Addy stepped forward just to careen harshly to the side. She caught herself against the wall, staring into the ground.

"Shit," she groaned, rubbing her head, "that was a bad idea."

"…haa– are you, uh, okay?"

"Nngh. Yep. Yep, I, uh…I'll be good." She straightened herself, and brushed her hair to the side tentatively. "Now, um…what were we talking about?"


	9. I got myxomatosis

AN: Addy gets a dose of terrifying perspective.

* * *

The floor hummed with an unnatural warmth, sending sparks up Addy's thighs as she sat slumped against the railing. Something buzzed at the base of her skull.

 _I should go. I should go before it comes back._

She didn't know where she was. Normally, death was so familiar it was almost welcoming; this time, it was waking up somewhere entirely new that was terrifying.

She'd woken up in a cage with no door, so wandering out was easy enough. But the bagmen kept her from going too far. She'd never seen one before until it decked her outside the cathedral, and now she was trapped in some muggy castle with flocks of them. They creaked as they moved, like rusty wheels, and Addy could never quite catch her breath as she heard their whining limbs echo through the halls.

She'd shuddered with relief when she found the lamp. Of course, it took all of a moment to notice its odd shape. As she prodded its grimy surface, no fire came. No messengers, either.

Addy's legs gave out with a sick whine, like wheels, like _monsters_ , and her head fell back to finally see the monolith in front of her.

That…thing. The one on top of the cathedral, with its spidery arms and honeycomb head. Someone had carved a statue of it, capturing every hooked edge with a sense of care that made Addy's stomach drop. What were these things, these _giants_? Who could create them? Who would care to?

Scraping echoed softly behind her, and Addy whipped her head around to stare into the dark hall below. She could see something walking down there – far off, but still there.

 _That's right. I need to go._ Her hands found the railing, shaking as they tried to grab on.

Something moved in the corner of her eye, but before she could react, the floor dropped out from under her. She turned, and found herself peering up at the statue. Breaths rushed from her mouth as its black fingers dug into her chest like rebar. It was alive, looking and leering at her, in her, with those deep black eyes.

 _No eyes, no, that's no face, it's just wire, basket, a perforated shell with nothing inside except for–_

Were those…people? Addy leaned forward, despite its strong grip. Its fingers seemed to suckle at her body heat and strip her down layer by layer. Slowly, it levelled her with its head, bringing her close enough to see into its gaping sockets.

There were people shuffling around in its head – walking along the wet streets, the slick streets _inside its head_. She tried to track them through the mesh of a creature, her eyes cycling manically along the windows on its form. She watched men stalk around an unreal pyre, fed by a mass of deformed logs that seemed to twitch, almost as if they could _feel_ , as if–

Its head flashed, and the pictures changed. A kaleidoscope of images flushed out of the fishnet mass, each moving, flickering, warping as the scenes played out. Addy blinked and tried to unpack the collage of information, focusing on one cell at a time.

She saw tidal waves. Floods.

A man screeching and banging at someone's doorstep.

The city shuddering with movement as a thick black vine hugged it like a tourniquet.

Tree roots twisting underground, rushing and pulsing like the arteries of something greater.

The festering surface of a deep red swamp. Flies buzzing in and out, dragging sticky pink strings of mud up and across as they wove spiral nets through the air.

Specks of bacteria shivered and scrambled away from a gelling mass of white blood cells, gushing with disease.

A woman, heaped on the ground, cupping the air as pieces of her head flaked off like eggshells, trying to catch herself as the wind tore out her figure with a sound like chimes.

Two churchless spires fell side-by-side, dust billowing out into the thick air.

Then there was a creature, too big, too _great_ , reaching out to Addy with spindly limbs that crackled like flames, white flames, as one man lit a gleaming white fire upon the church, moving to baptise and clean the building like an iris being eaten by the whites of your eyes.

Light beamed out from the holes in the creature's head. Spotlights raked over Addy's body as it turned to look at her with each gapingly absent eye. It had trapped the moon in its head, she thought, and it swarmed out in bits to touch her, like fireflies, like cold, cold water. It was too much, too many sensations. Too much to try and understand. She wanted nothing more than to close her eyes to it all, but the images still bounced off her eyelids each time she blinked.

Her chest constricted as something red laced the edges of her vision in fine ribbons, and then she couldn't feel a thing. Fear pricked at her edges, but the light flushed it out and cooled her shaking limbs.

"You are gods," Addy breathed, watching her pale face reflect in the white. "You are all _gods._ "

She couldn't hear herself through the unearthly, ringing scream that clambered into her ears. It cut in as if it was always there, flooding her head just to empty it out again. Only this perfect bleach could clear her mind again, only this grand cleansing.

Rivers rushed and gushed through her, and she drifted with the steady waves.

Only this.


End file.
